Deputies of the State Duma and PACE members visited Aleppo and talked with its residents

10.04.2017

07.08.2018

Members of the delegations of Russian and European parliamentarians who arrived in Syria visited the city of Aleppo today and communicated with the inhabitants of its eastern part.

“The Russian delegation includes deputies of all four factions. We invited our European colleagues-members of PACE, representing their national parliaments in this trip, “Vasilyev told reporters.

And Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, who also arrived in Damascus, said that about 10 parliamentarians from Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Belgium entered the delegation from the European side. “Among them are PACE President Pedro Agramunt, leader of the political group” Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe “Jordi Shukla and head of the commission of the Assembly for Legal Affairs and Human Rights Alain Desteks,” he said.

State Duma deputies met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and discussed the creation of a constitutional commission in the Syrian parliament of the UAR.

“They disassembled details of the constitutional process and the creation of a constitutional commission in parliament. We now have to discuss this with the head of the parliament (Syria) Hadia Abbas, “said Leonid Slutsky.

According to him, “the creation of a constitutional commission in the parliament could lead to qualitative changes in the constitutional process, which is now on the platform of the inter-Syrian dialogue in Geneva, as well as in Astana.”

“I express purely my point of view and believe that, indeed, Kurdish autonomy is necessary, as well as other national autonomies are necessary under any draft constitution. And this is recognized by many participants in the inter-Syrian dialogue, as well as completely different and often opposing political forces, with whom we are in daily contact, “Slutsky told journalists today.

At the same time, he stressed, “the inter-Syrian dialogue is extremely delicate matter.” “We both understand our powers and do not go beyond their borders, but only try to contribute to the potential of parliamentary diplomacy, while reinforcing the very serious efforts that the Russian side is making on the road to peace in the Syrian Arab Republic,” the head of the committee said.

According to Slutsky, Russian parliamentarians brought to Europe Syria’s European colleagues led by the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Pedro Agramunt. As the head of the committee noted, they “recognize the importance of efforts, in particular in the format of the Center for reconciliation of the warring parties.” “This is a unique practice when the defense ministry is making such significant efforts in the political and diplomatic sphere,” he added.

The Syrian army completed the operation to release Aleppo from the militants in December last year. The delegation visited the school in Hananu district in eastern Aleppo, the deputies were present at the transfer of humanitarian aid to children and their parents. The residents were given hot food and gifts. As the head of the Aleppo Eastern Aleppo Reconciliation Center Aleksey Gorobets said, out of 350 students in the 250 school, they are orphans.

The head of the State Duma’s international affairs committee Leonid Slutsky stressed that humanitarian aid from Russia goes to Syria through a number of agencies. “We talked yesterday with President Assad and deputies of the People’s Council of Syria about creating the most-favored-nation treatment for our humanitarian convoys, so that their passage through the territory of the country, in the most difficult regions, was as easy as possible,” Slutsky said.

The head of the delegation, Vladimir Vasiliev, said that the deputies also visited temporary medical boxes, equipped on the streets of Aleppo, where military doctors are providing assistance to local residents. “People should understand that this is not a political action. Nobody here pursues anything. You just need to help people who are in a difficult situation, “Vasiliev told reporters.
“The more states involved in the humanitarian process, the sooner we will conquer terror,” the head of the delegation stressed.

The deputies of the State Duma together with the PACE members arrived in Syria on the invitation of the Speaker of the People’s Council of the Syrian Arab Republic. During the visit, almost three-hour meeting of parliamentarians with Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as negotiations within the framework of a joint meeting of international committees of the Russian and Syrian parliaments. This morning the delegation visited the base of the Russian VKS group in Khmeimim, where she got acquainted with the activities of the Center for the reconciliation of the warring parties.